Worrying sign of things to come?

AND it was all going so well... The day started badly for me and just got steadily worse. We left it late to leave London and after encountering traffic in the Midlands (where else?) and then again five miles from the ground, we just about made it to our seats as the team were kicking off. Being late for a game always makes me uncomfortable, knocks me out of my rhythm somehow, and I had a sense of foreboding right from the off.

The team we put out should have had no problem, but the performance was nothing short of shocking. With the exception of Drogba and Belletti, none of them looked as if they wanted to be out there.

There were squabbles going on between Mikel and Lampard, Lampard and Cech, Mikel and Essien which is never a good thing, and something we Chelsea fans have very rarely (if ever) seen under John Terry’s captaincy — but even he did little to calm the disputes or light a fire under the players.

So now we have to establish if this was a one off abomination, a prelude to our season imploding — or something else.

Let’s look at the evidence:

Although we ended the game with nine men, the attitude of the majority of them was such that we could have had 19 players on and Wigan would have still (quite rightly) taken all three points. We were complacent, overconfident and worryingly uncompetitive in every area.

I was in agreement with the majority of the travelling support — that this wasn’t a tactical error on the part of the manager — but a lack of effort, discipline and will to win on the part of the players.

I am trying very hard not to overreact, but the performance was one of the worst that I have seen in recent years — and the worrying part was that things did not improve after half-time. Of course we are not privy to what is said, but whatever it was must have been brief as the team were back out on the pitch a good five minutes before they were due but it made little difference. The goal we got back, although attributed to Drogba, his 100th for the club, received more than a helping hand from Kirkland who managed to let the ball go through his hands, then his legs. That was the only bit of fortune we got, or deserved.

The real measure of this team is how it reacts to last Saturday’s debacle. The fact we will have no Cech should not be too much of an issue if the defence do their job. Hilario is a capable keeper and has never really let us down so now is the time for the team and its senior players to stand up and be counted. A comprehensive win over Liverpool and the loss against Wigan will be labelled as “just one of those games” — a loss and you know the papers will interpret it as a crisis in the making.

It is also an important week for Ancelotti as a manager’s experience is always put to the test at a time such as this. He could easily be labelled a Scolari if this is the start to a string of average results, or he could ensure that the loss is seen as an aberration in an outstanding season — as the Spurs game was last year for Hiddink.

It’s just typical of our luck that it is Liverpool we face to try and put ourselves back on the straight and narrow and just as they seem to be hitting a rich vein of form too. There will be added pressure on the team as they are more than aware of the antagonism between both sets of supporters and how much this means in bragging rights.

I can’t get up much enthusiasm for this evening’s Champions League game in Cyprus — the injustice of last season still smarts. What makes it worse is that Didier Drogba’s ban has kicked in but a certain Tom Henning Ovrebo has obviously escaped any sanctions for his incompetent (or worse) display because he was refereeing in the first round of group stage games and I imagine will continue to do so throughout the competition.

No doubt the governing bodies will find another way of ensuring that we don’t crash the big boys’ party — the transfer sanctions are just the overture I’m sure to another raft of ridiculous and trumped-up accusations that will be eased through the kangaroo court that seems to be permanently sitting just to deal with Chelsea.

My mood is dark this week — that’s what forgetting what it is like to lose to small clubs does for you. Spoilt, I know.

Hopefully my disposition next week will be much improved — come on Chelsea!

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